Sacrifice

In an interview with Anne Busby published in the program for the original production of The Secret Rapture, Hare revealed that the title of the play means "that moment at which a nun expects to be united with Christ. In other words, it's death." Nuns, much like saints, face their deaths after a lifetime of sacrifice. They do not live in luxury and collect the material possessions most people desire. Rather than enjoying some of the sensual pleasures of life favored by ordinary human beings, they spend their days tending to people in need and serving God.

There are many parallels between the life Isobel leads and the lives of nuns or saints. Like them, she has a strong, unwavering sense of morality, and she is more interested in ideas and relationships than in material wealth. Perhaps most important, she makes continual sacrifices for others, and those sacrifices...